Pretend that the year is 2021 and the COVID-19 vaccines have just been approved for public use. Assume that COVID-19 is in fact a significant threat (statistically, at least) and that the vaccines are safe and effective (again, statistically speaking; if you doubt any of this, assume it is true for purposes of this assignment). Unfortunately, echo chambers, in Nguyen’s technical sense, have formed on social media regarding these vaccines. Core beliefs of these echo chambers include:
- The COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe and are likely to cause serious health problems.
- They are unnecessary anyway, because COVID-19 is just the flu.
- The “so-called experts” (doctors, scientists, public health officials, etc.) cannot be trusted, because they are in the pocket of “big pharma”.
- The people who believe otherwise are the ones who are in an echo chamber.
One possible strategy for dealing with these echo chambers is to deploy various curtailments on speech and association: Facebook groups or subreddits might be banned, particularly prominent members of the echo chamber might be deplatformed, various content (e.g. tweets) might be removed, etc. Call these strategies “censorship”. Your task is to draw on Mill’s arguments for freedom of speech to assess whether censorship is appropriate here. You should do this by answering the following questions:
- What are Mill’s arguments for freedom of speech? How do they work?
- Do Mill’s arguments make a compelling case against censorship here? Why or why not? Make sure you discuss all three of Mill’s arguments in answering this.
- All things considered, is censorship an appropriate response here? Why or why not?
Word Limit: 1500 (Submissions which exceed 1500 words will be penalized by one third of a letter grade per 100 words. Citations do not count toward the word limit.)
Writing Requirements: this is an essay. You do need a formal introduction, thesis statement, and conclusion.
This assignment is due during session 26.
